I have a love/love less relationship with Jasper Fforde. One of my favorite books ever Shades of Grey (not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey) was written by Jasper Fforde. I started out strong with the Thursday Next series, and loved the Nursery Crime series and was fully expecting to read all the books in the Shades of Grey series, only there have been no more books.I try not to be annoyed, but it HAS been eight years, and between that time he’s published the Kazam books, a stand alone novel, and added to the Thursday Next series. Come on, Jasper, finish my books already! But enough of that. Despite my anger at Mr. Fforde, I thought I’d give his children’s books a go.

The Last Dragonslayer occupies that uncomfortable middle grade novel area which is a hard area to permeate. The concepts need to be such that middle grade readers understand and appreciate while also appealing to the older crowd that might stumble upon the book. I find that most writers are a little too patronizing when they write regular adult novels and try to make the transition (I’m looking at you Brandon Sanderson). Fforde’s kind of nonsensical ideas worked surprisingly well for a younger audience. The first book follows Jennifer Strange a fifteen year old orphaned indentured servant who happens to run Kazam Mystical Arts Management, the Great Zambini’s group of magicians. Mr. Zambini is, at present, missing. From the first sentence I was drawn in by Jennifer’s first words, “Once, I was famous”. It is a clever introduction to a clever character. The first person perspective was also nice. We see the world through Jennifer’s eyes. We meet Tiger, another orphan sent to train with Jennifer by the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster and get to know all the other characters that work for Zambini. So, I assumed this book was going to be about finding Zambini, but not so. A prophesy comes about that Jennifer Strange will kill the last remaining dragon, Maltcassion. Jennifer has not desire or intention to do anything of the sort, but there are some powerful political factors at play and it has something to do with Big Magic. Jennifer’s refusal to kill the dragon puts her at odds with King Snodd IV and his sycophants.

There are quite a few twists and turns, and clearly, things did not go as expected with the whole dragon slaying. Truths about Jennifer’s past, the Mighty Shandar (the uber magician that trapped the dragons in the first place), and the future of magic are revealed and the story could end there, but as there are three more books in the series, it doesn’t. What Fforde always manages to do so well is to create ridiculous, charming, convincing worlds. Each is so unique that it is really staggering. His characters are lovable, flawed, quirky, and relatable. I also like his snarky dialogue. What works for adults Fforde did for kids in a way that is most pleasing and not at all condescending. The books are clever, and clever kids are going to enjoy them a lot. I know I did. This book hits some of the buzz topics flying around; strong female lead, the idea of greed as an evil, sacrifice and community. It deals with some heavy topics but in a way that doesn’t feel preachy or overbearing. I’m interested to see where Jennifer’s adventures take her and the relationships that she’ll develop along the way.

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Fiction books are tricky things, sometimes. For example… sometimes I hover on the grade should it be A- or should it be B+? I enjoyed it. The characters were engaging and well rounded… but does it answer those big questions, or does it have big ideas like I feel an A book should have. The Rosie Project encouraged me to think of larger concepts without trying to hit me over the head with them, which I loved. Read More »

Let us take a moment to talk audiobooks. This is not the first audiobook I listened to… no that honor goes to a horrible Star Wars audiobook which I will be reviewing shortly (and when I say shortly, I actually have no idea when I will get to it… I used to do these things in order, but I’ve given that up). Read More »

Back to reading WWII books, I see. Yes, I am. I genuinely can’t help myself no matter how hard I try. I feel as though I am not entirely to blame because of each book published every year, I’d wager a high percentage are about WWII. Like how I kept it vague without any real statistics? Read More »

I honestly don’t remember how this one came into my consciousness. I don’t believe anyone recommended it and I think vaguely I read the synopsis of the movie version and thought that it sounded like an interesting book? Either way, I got it from my old friend Amazon and the rest is history. I really enjoyed this book and it isn’t the sort of fiction that I tend to like. So often I read books about race relations in the deep south pre civil rights movement and I have to roll my eyes so often (I’m looking at you, The Help). Read More »

If you read this website regularly (and there is no guarantee that you do… I’ve seen my web page analytics), you know that I like to read running books as I consider myself a runner on sabbatical just waiting for that magical day when I am no longer birthing or breastfeeding humans and can devote time back to running. Read More »

Sigh… where to begin? Reviewing a book like this is a bit of a challenge. Purmort’s biggest claim to fame, and her reason for writing a memoir in the first place, is that her husband died of cancer. So, if you criticize a book like this, you come across as a jerk… So with that understanding, I am going into this immediately letting you know that I DISLIKED this book. Read More »

French and I have had a pretty serious thing going on since I read one of her books while I was in the hospital delivering my first child in 2010. Then I read another in 2012 while I was in the hospital with my second child. And again in 2014 with my third child. Well, her new book came out and I was nowhere near having a kid, so I had to break our streak and read The Trespasser. I was initially pretty thrilled because I knew this book would follow Antionette Conway who I enjoyed in the last book and wanted to delve more into what a partnership between her and Stephen Moran would look like. Read More »

I’d heard a lot about this book and had always wanted to read it. I’d read excerpts of a few of her other books and it looked like Battle Hymn was a bit of a departure, but exciting none the less. Then I had the opportunity to hear Chua speak at my brother’s law school graduation and enjoyed what she had to say. She spoke a lot about the backlash she received after writing the book and the controversy surrounding it. Which goes to show you, people who don’t read books shouldn’t get to make talking points on morning shows. Read More »

This is another book I picked up for research for our family trip to Hawaii in 2016. I’m already a fan of Vowell, and at this point I’d already done a fair amount of research so I was excited to add Vowell’s perspective. I knew there were certain things I could count on in a Vowell history. 1- She was going to be cutting. 2- She was going to find the ridiculous. 3-She might eviscerate the colonists. I was right on all counts. Read More »

Jasper Fforde loses no steam with his followup to The Last Dragonslayer. In the last book we discovered a few things. The Mighty Shandar is kind of not a nice person. Jennifer is a berserker. Big Magic is back. Read More »

I have a love/love less relationship with Jasper Fforde. One of my favorite books ever Shades of Grey (not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey) was written by Jasper Fforde. I started out strong with the Thursday Next series, and loved the Nursery Crime series and was fully expecting to read all the books in the Shades of Grey series, only there have been no more books. Read More »

If you recall we last left Flavia de Luce on her way back to England after a brief sojourn at a Canadian boarding school. I must admit, I was excited to see where the series would go once Flavia returned. But I am getting ahead of myself. Read More »

I have some go-to non fiction writers that I rely on to provide a variety of real life events or stories that I know will educate, enlighten, entertain, and always be great. Erik Larson, Sarah Vowell, Nathaniel Philbrick, Amy Stewart. And Hampton Sides. It was a happy day when I discovered this man. One thing I LOVE about Sides is that his books are so varied, and still so interesting. There is no better example than Americana. Read More »

Another bad book brought to you by the Saga of the Phenwick Women. I honestly am glad I only have four of these books in total in this series and this is number three so we are ALMOST finished I promise! Read More »

You’ll have to read my review of Augusta, the First to get the back story on this series of books and why they are fundamentally terrible, but let me just tell you why THIS particular book is terrible. Read More »

This book was SOOOOOO bad. Ugh. Really. It was awful. My baby brother (who turns 32 this year!) got this for my birthday last last year. Correction, he got the first four books in the series (more about this series later) at a used book store for a dollar. He had the gaul to leave the price tag and when I called him on it he said he just wanted to show me what our friendship was worth. Thanks, Jason. In retaliation, I didn’t get him anything for his birthday, so there is that. Read More »

By now everyone has heard this story as the movie based on this book, Lion, was nominated for all sorts of awards. My husband got this for me before the movie was a thing, and so the first time I saw the trailer for the movie I’d already read the book and therefore had a bunch of pre conceived notions about what it should be, but that is another story for another time. You all know my thoughts on movies based on books. Read More »

Okay, I am warning you right now this is the first book in what looks to be a YA fantasy series so it could go on forever. I didn’t know that when I bought this book. I was hoping for a quick little one off. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) this book was good enough that now I am going to have to continue reading the series. The problems of a person that reads a lot of books… Read More »

I saw a trailer for the movie version of this book a few years after the movie was in theaters. As usual, I thought, hmmm… looks like an okay movie, but I bet the book is better. Having never seen the film, I can’t promise I am correct, but the book was fine. It wasn’t wonderful, but entertaining enough. Read More »

Ah, the book that single-handedly killed my love of running. Just kidding. I’m being a bit dramatic, but in a running book my bar is reasonably low: Does this book make me want to run? If the answer is no, then it isn’t a great running book. But I get ahead of myself. Read More »

I don’t know what it is about the darker moments in US history that people find so fascinating, but perhaps it is that psychological warm blanket of knowing that an awful thing happened while you are safe. I could ponder this all day but you came for a review and a review you are going to get. Read More »

Rarely do I feel so viscerally about a Grafton book. Generally they fall on the good sort of okay scale don’t make me regret the time spent on them, but are very forgettable once they are done. Read More »

Full disclosure, this is usually the type of book that I really dislike. The characters are awful, I mean AWFUL. Flawed, and petty, and one dimensional, but for whatever reason I really enjoyed it. Possibly because all the characters are loathable so I wasn’t rooting for or against any of them. Read More »

So, I am not Vietnamese, but I am multi cultural. My mom is Chilean, so I understand what it is to float between two cultures, to be American and something else. I’ve rarely read a book, fiction/non-fiction/YA/Adult that captures so well what it means to embrace the beauty of two different cultures to understand what it means to be a person. Read More »

I’m a fan of Hampton Sides, if he writes it, I’m going to read it. (I’m currently reading Amercana: Dispatches from the New Frontier and loving it) I read this book at a challenging time which made it a very heavy read. Read More »

Way back in the early days of 2016, my husband and I decided that we would do something spectacular for his four week sabbatical rather than the yard work and errands that we’d initially talked about. Then randomly we decided we’d go to Hawaii, and we’d take the kids. I’ve never had a lot of interest in Hawaii, it seemed too touristy, too obvious, too not my kind of island, but once we decided we’d go (and take three kids aged five and under) for 2+ weeks in paradise, I threw myself into research mode. Read More »